Deschampsia cespitosa
Tufted hair grass, Tufted Hair Grass
(c) Matt Lavin, some rights reserved (CC BY) · licence
Family: Poaceae · Type: Grass · Native
Deschampsia cespitosa (Tufted hair grass) is a native California grass in the Poaceae family.
Tufted hair grass is a native perennial found in various California regions in meadows, grasslands, and forest openings at elevations ranging from low to high montane zones. Flowering from June to August, this grass produces delicate purple-tinted spikelets with slender, pale inflorescences that can range from narrow to open. Growing in dense to loose clumps with stems 20 to 100 centimeters tall, it forms distinctive grassy tussocks with flexible stems. Its leaves are narrow and flat to slightly rolled, typically 8 to 20 centimeters long and 1 to 4 millimeters wide, with ligules 3 to 8 millimeters long that can be acute or obtuse. The plant's lemmas feature subtle purple-tipped glumes with delicate awns that emerge from or below the middle of each floret.
Identification and appearance
Key characters: Geographically isolated with no sympatric species
Habitat and range
California counties: Humboldt, Alpine, Butte, Fresno, Napa, Placer, Plumas, San Mateo, Tuolumne, Sierra, Siskiyou, Tulare, Mono, San Bernardino, Sonoma, Lake, Marin, El Dorado, Mendocino, Shasta, Lassen, Tehama, Mariposa, Del Norte, Nevada, Modoc, Trinity, Inyo, San Luis Obispo, San Francisco, Monterey, Santa Cruz, Colusa, Amador, Solano, Kern, Madera, Contra Costa, Riverside, Ventura
How to tell it apart
vs Oloptum: Deschampsia has hairy spikelet extensions and thread-like basal leaves; Oloptum lacks the fuzzy extension and has wiry, needle-like leaves.; vs Festuca: Deschampsia has airy, open panicles with fuzzy spikelet extensions; Festuca has denser flower clusters without hairy extensions.; vs Panicum: Deschampsia forms basal leaf tufts with hairy spikelet extensions; Panicum has stem leaves and smooth, rounded spikelets.; vs Melica: Deschampsia has hairy spikelet extensions; Melica has a distinctive club-shaped sterile floret cluster at spikelet tips.; vs Poa: Deschampsia has prominent hairy extensions beyond florets; Poa has boat-shaped lemmas with cobwebby hairs at the base only.
Frequently asked questions
Is Deschampsia cespitosa native to California?
Yes. Deschampsia cespitosa is native to California (recorded as native).
Where in California does Deschampsia cespitosa grow?
Deschampsia cespitosa occurs in Humboldt, Alpine, Butte, Fresno, Napa, Placer, Plumas, San Mateo and other counties.
What plant family does Deschampsia cespitosa belong to?
Deschampsia cespitosa is in the Poaceae family, genus Deschampsia.
Related species
Other California species in the same genus, family, or bioregion.
Sources: Jepson eFlora · Index of California Plant Names · CalPhotos
Last updated 2026-10-07
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Cal-IPC, and more.